Lancaster County is rich in stitches.

Quilts are seamlessly threaded into the fabric of the area, not unlike pot pie and Amish buggies.

For those bewitched by layered stitchery — and longtime quilters like Sue Reno of Columbia — there's a new neighborhood venue for fine designs.

Next week, the 25-year-old Kentucky-based American Quilter's Society is holding its prestigious AQS Quilt Show & Contest for the first time in Lancaster.

Dedicated to nurturing and promoting quilt-making and collecting, the AQS, which has more than 50,000 members in 80 countries, already holds three shows annually in Des Moines, Iowa.; Knoxville, Tenn.; and at the home base in Paducah, Ky. Since the first AQS show there in 1985, the society has awarded more than $2.5 million to competing quilters, and at the Lancaster show this year, $44,250 in cash awards will be given.

Reno — one of 201 semifinalists, including 23 from Pennsylvania — is excited — even on pins and needles — about the 2010 show's entry into the county.

Wendy Nagle, executive director of the Heritage Center of Lancaster County, which operates the Lancaster Quilt & Textile Museum, is equally enthused, and also not surprised.

"With our multifaceted heritage and history of quilts in Lancaster, this makes for a natural hot spot," she said.

"Family and Friends: Quilts and Their Connections," the Lancaster Quilt & Textile Museum's spring 2010 show, will open March 22, at the museum, 37 N. Market St., during the week of the AQS event, March 24 to 27. The AQS show will be held at the Lancaster County Convention Center and Liberty Place Conference Center.

At the AQS contest, quilts and quilters from around the world will be showcased — there were entries from 42 states and five other countries — including Reno and her semifinalist entry, "Big Root Geranium" — measuring 38 inches high by 43 inches wide and on sale for $3,400.

Reno's solo show, "Transformation: The Watt & Shand Series," is opening at the Arts Hotel Gallery Friday.

Bonnie Browning, AQS executive show director, said the society's newly introduced show comes on the heels of the discontinuation of the popular Quilters' Heritage Celebration, held here for 22 years.

"When the announcement was made that QHC would no longer be held, we were all sure that someone else would bring a show to town," said Kathy Retherford, president of the Red Rose Quilters Guild, which maintains an area membership of 140 to 160. "Lancaster County is so well known throughout the country for its quilts and quilters that a quilt show here is inevitable."

Guild members were invited to volunteer at the show to do everything from hang quilts to host exhibits.

Retherford hopes the show will continue to generate interest in the traditional, but ever-evolving art of quilting.

In America, quilting was introduced by English, Welsh and Dutch settlers, but it was the advent of less-expensive colorfast cottons at the end of the 18th century which probably set the stage for the explosive growth of the craft in the 19th century.

The quilting tradition has not only survived — but thrived well into the 21st.

According to a 2006 Quilting in America survey presented by Quilter's Newsletter magazine and the International Quilt Market & Festival, divisions of Quilts Inc., 17 percent of United States households indicated quilting participation, and total quilters in the U.S. then exceeded 27 million, which represented almost a 100 percent increase from the 14 million quilters reported in 1997.

While today's quilters may embrace traditional pieced patterns and recreate age-old designs, many more stitchers are itching to create a brave new materials world with a variety of embellishments.

At the show, Nagle said, you will most likely see a lot of recreations, as well as very contemporary styles and colors.

"There are many fabric artists looking at things differently than we did in the past," she said.

For several years, Reno has worked exclusively as a fiber artist, relying on fabric and thread much the way a painter uses paint or a sculptor depends on clay or stone, she said.

Reno was raised Pennsylvania Dutch, and she began sewing when she was about 5. Her work has been featured nationwide, was part of the QHC and has been on display for First Fridays.

"Art quilting or fiber art is really a burgeoning field," Reno says.

To transfer images onto fabric, Reno incorporates a variety of techniques, including cyanotyping, also known as blueprinting, and heliographic printing. The processes rely on special treatments and applications on fabrics and exposure to shades of light. Reno also utilizes digital photography.

"My goal in creating art is to capture the beauty of small details in textures and shapes," she said, "and bring a sense of joy and happiness to the viewer."

Perhaps, a quilter's credo.

Quilt shows

• AMERICAN QUILTER'S SOCIETY (AQS) 2010 QUILT SHOW & CONTEST
The event will be held 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 24 to 26, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 27, at the Lancaster County Convention Center and Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square complex and the Liberty Place Conference Center at 313 W. Liberty St. 
ADMISSION: $9 daily, $17 multiday for AQS members, $11 daily, $30 multiday for nonmembers. 
CONTACT: Call 1-270-898-7903, ext. 132, or go to www.americanquilter.com.

• LANCASTER QUILT & TEXTILE MUSEUM
"Family and Friends: Quilts and Their Connections," featuring Southeastern Pennsylvania quilts, including some recently acquired family quilts that have never been on public view, will open Monday at the museum, 37 N. Market St., and run through Dec. 31. 
COST: Adult admission is $6; groups over 15, $4; students with valid ID, $4; and children under 17, free. 
CONTACT: Call 299-6440 or 397-2970, e-mail info@lancasterheritage.com, or go to www.quiltandtextilemuseum.com for hours and information.

• SOLO RENO
Fabric artist Sue Reno's solo show, "Transformation: The Watt & Shand Series," will open Friday at The Arts Hotel Gallery. The Third Friday artist's reception will be held 6 to 8 p.m. Bev Conklin will provide music. 
INFORMATION: www.suereno.com or www.artshotelgallery.com.

sjurgelski@lnpnews.com